“Why do you think churches led by people of color are thriving while a lot of White liberal churches are dying?” asked a student at a class where I was on a panel of people of color representing the racial/ethnic ministries of our denomination. The person who asked is a friend of mine whom IContinue reading “Christmas values – Day 9: Gloria in Excelsis Deo!”
Category Archives: love
Christmas values – Day 8: Community
Do you see it? Do you see who shows up for the very first Christmas? We’re so used to the image that we don’t even notice what’s crazy subersive about the melange of folks kicking it at the manger, but this is as close to Burning Man as 1st century Judea would have gotten (exceptContinue reading “Christmas values – Day 8: Community”
Christmas values – Day 6: Charity
“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, orContinue reading “Christmas values – Day 6: Charity”
Christmas values – day 5: Love
This is part of the twelve-day series on the values of Christmas I am writing in an attempt to stay in the season of Christmas through January 6. “I got my mom a STERLING SILVER NECKLACE!” my ten-year-old friend said proudly to my grown-up friend and me just before Christmas, so proud of himself for having pulledContinue reading “Christmas values – day 5: Love”
Christmas values — day 2: joy
I woke up this morning feeling sorry for homophobes. If you know me, you might be surprised by this reaction, because I don’t tend to suffer intolerance. And at some point in my young life I realized that God doesn’t screw up people, so if God made people gay, I probably shouldn’t keep telling GodContinue reading “Christmas values — day 2: joy”
Things said and left unsaid at #MillionsMarchOAK
Thousands gathered in Oakland yesterday, joining with marchers in San Francisco, New York and Washington, DC. I marched with them, as part of the API solidarity contingent. And I found myself reflecting on what my solidarity looks like with this movement. What I did say: Black Lives Matter. Sometimes I want to clarify, “Black livesContinue reading “Things said and left unsaid at #MillionsMarchOAK”
The Single Rev by Choice – For a Season
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FIDELIA’S SISTERS ON DECEMBER 9, 2014: http://youngclergywomen.org/single-rev-choice/ You know the poem about how people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime? Singleness sometimes feels like it has come into my life (unbidden) for a lifetime, but I’m choosing it for this season. God and I have had wordsContinue reading “The Single Rev by Choice – For a Season”
This bridge called my back in this new civil rights movement moment
Navigating “not Black or White” and “Nonviolent but not non-violent” as an ally and activist I suspect every woman of color in America has at multiple points felt that Donna Kate Rushin wrote the Bridge poem for her. As I wonder whether the bonds of friendship with my radical anarchist friends of color will hold andContinue reading “This bridge called my back in this new civil rights movement moment”
“Things taken: Finding Healing on foreign soil this Thanksgiving”
18th annual Berkeley Multifaith Thanksgiving Service Northbrae Community Church, host Message by Sandhya Jha, Director of the Oakland Peace Center and Director of Interfaith Programs at East Bay Housing Organizations It is a real honor to be here this evening. I have worked with a number of you on affordable housing issues in Berkeley,Continue reading ““Things taken: Finding Healing on foreign soil this Thanksgiving””
The spiritual journey to a secular job
I’ve got one thing on my mind, baby, and that one thing is…fundraising. Sexy, right? The Oakland Peace Center is hosting our very first fundraising campaign ever, and it is all I can think about right now. I sent a couple of appeal emails to people I know through church, and it got me thinkingContinue reading “The spiritual journey to a secular job”
Sandhya Rani Jha 